Archived Minutes 

FAll 2025 Meeting Minutes 

Louisiana High School Speech League

Fall Coaches Meeting

Ascension Episcopal--Youngsville

August 23, 2025

AGENDA

I. Welcome - 9:13 am 

A.  Introduction of Executive Council Members

II. Roll call

Abbeville High School

Acadiana High 

Alexandria Senior HS 

Arthur Smith Middle Magnet 

Ascension Episcopal

Ben Franklin 

Bolton High School

Caddo Magnet High School

Caldwell Parish High School

Carencro High SChool 

Catholic High New Iberia 

Cecilia High School

David Thibodaux Stem Magnet Academy

Dutchtown 

Episcopal School of Acadiana

Isidore Newman School

Kaplan High School

Lafayette High School

Livonia HS 

LSMSA

MACA

Parkway High School

Southside High School

St. Mary's Dominican High School

St. Thomas More HS

Teurlings Catholic High School

Zachary High School

III. Old Business

1. National Tournament Reports 9:17am  

   1. Lafayette CFL

      1. Scott Johnstone - NCFL memorial day weekend 

         1. national tournament results from this past year 

         2. Washington DC for national tournament this year 

         3. cost is $85 membership dues paid to scott or barbara depending on school location 

         4. starting this year Covid level qualifiers will stop so membership is key 

         5. Qualifying tournament at the beginning of march 

         6. Lafayette to host the National Tournament in 2027 

   2. New Orleans CFL

      1. Barbara - qualifier and hopefully city championship 

   3. NSDA 9:30am 

      1. Greg - 

         1. St. Aug coach inducted to the national hall of fame 

         2. Sam Cane from Frederick Douglas New Orleans new coach of the year 

         3. National Tournament Results 

         4. Recommendation for review of safety procedures at tournaments based on events at NSDA nationals over the summer - have all call system ready 

         5. Level 3 district for first time - 3 qualifiers in each event that has 10+ entries 

         6. new middle school point formula that will match the HS point formula 

         7. next year membership dues model will change to flat rate for membership. no resource charges or individual membership charges. $350 new rate 

2. Committee Reports - 9:45

   1. Split Oral Interp into Prose and Poetry (Scott, Megan, Jacob, Stephanie)

      1. Craig 

         1. NCFL still has them combined 

         2. NSDA offers them combined as a supplemental

      2. Masey Hammons 

         1. Leger said that novices like having a book.helps with recruitment 

         2. split events for novices so they can do just the one with the book 

      3. Livonia - is this a pilot or would we do this in varsity as well 

         1. Kaplan - would want to keep it novice to stay in line with national organization 

      4. BenFranklin 

         1. takes extra rooms possibly 

            1. greg - as long as double entry stays in place it limits the impact on needed rooms 

         2. cap on events would make this to where OI takes up all of their possible events at the tournament. 

            1. Erica - put them in open OI and then they can still enter other events 

         3. Potential decline in OI numbers in varsity bc they dont want to go to both events as varsity 

      5. Scott 

         1. adding events to a local tournament increases cost as far as trophies go 

         2. trophies have to be ordered well in advance and before we get the numbers in 

      6. Jill - would a vote to approve stop a school from offering only OI 

         1. could still have open OI 

         2. novice OI no longer sanctioned event

      7. Motion to move to a vote - KAsi 

         1. Novice OI will now be two separate events Prose and Poetry for regular season and state tournament 

         2. second - Chris 

            1. all in favor - ayes win 

      8. Vote - 

         1. all in favor - 20 

         2. all opposed - 3 

         3. passes  

3. New Business - 10:00 

   1. Qualification requirements for TC

      1. Barbara - stay with current 2 event participation 

      2. scott - move to accept last years 

         1. seconded 

         2. passed 

   2. Expectations of judging requirements for TC 

      1. Greg 

         1. moved to a more traditional size of entry judge requirements 

         2. had enough judges for the tournament to operate 

         3. did not have hired judges last year 

         4. possible cap for large schools bc we cant use all 

      2. Kasi 

         1. need parity in cost for traveling schools 

         2. traveling schools have to pay for judge hotels 

      3. Scott 

         1. need an official judge committee outside of the council or adjacent to find extra judges 

            1. tweek to add geographic component 

      4. Greg 

         1. clarify that even if you dont have anyone compete on saturday you still have to judge the first elim on saturday morning 

   3. Alumni Association 

      1. Masey - facebook page being worked on 

      2. still need to format the org 

      3. need some volunteers help with that 

   4. Review/Reform TC Rules of Standardization - 10:20am

      1. Only award 1st-3rd in Duo if there are at least 10 entries in the division

      2. Meghan - top 4 students recognized in debate regardless

      3. Alma - its based on who makes final or semifinals. speech still breaks finals into places 

      4. Scott - move to close debate 

      5. Vote  - 

         1. in favor - 16 

         2. opposed - 5

         3. abstain - 3 

   5. Finance report 

      1. League Due Increase

      2. Increase of TC entry fees to $10

      3. call for a vote to vote today on increase in dues 

         1. 23 in favor 

         2. 1 abstain 

      4. Amend the constitution to increase dues to $100 

         1. passes unanimously 

      5. Call for vote to increase fees to $10 for state tournament 

         1. passes unanimously 

   6. Tournament Schedule 2025-2026 - 10:53 am 

Based on dates submitted at the Spring Coach Meeting and dates

submitted online as of August 22 

September

October

10/25 Ascension Epsicopal IEs and Duo

10/24-25 Caddo/Newman virtual Debate only - online tabroom

November

11/7-11/8 Teurilngs Catholic Novice/Varsity IEs, LD, Policy

Dec/Info/POI

Congress

11/14-11/15 ESA IE Only

Duo 

Congress - Friday afternoon

John Paul the Great Debate Only

Policy

Public Forum

LD 

Novice and Advanced TBD

11/21-11/22 Abbeville High Speech events/Congress

December

12/5-6 Southside IE and Debate

Duo and congress 

Novice and Varsity 

12/12-12/14 Isidore Newman All Speech Events

Congress

Novice/Advanced LD

Novice/Advanced PF

Novice/Advanced Policy

World Schools

January

1/9-1/10 UL/LSU All Events - in baton rouge 

Peabody Magnet All Events

1/16-1/17 St.Thomas More All Events and congress 

1/23-1/24 Ben Franklin All Events except Policy- congress offer

1/30-1/31 Dutchtown All Events and Congress

February

2/6-2/7 Sophie B Wright All Events

Parkway All Events

2/14 Cecilia Speech only

2/20-2/21 Kaplan High Congress Friday

IEs and Duo Saturday

2/27-2/28 New Orleans Charter All Debate and Speech Events

March

3/6 - 3/7 Lafayette CFL District

3/6 - 3/7 New Orleans CFL District

3/20 - 3/21 NSDA District - ULL or STM 

3/26-3/28 Louisiana Tournament of Champions

potential locations - Southside, Dutchtown

V. Announcements

1. Reminders

   1. All LHSSL dues and paperwork to Kasi McCartney by September 12, 2025

   2. Congressional Debate legislation 

Louisiana High School Speech League

Spring Coaches Meeting

David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy--Lafayette

March 26, 2025

AGENDA

I. Welcome 7:00

II. Roll call 7:02

• Abbeville HS

• Acadiana HS

• Alexandria Senior High 

• Ascension Epscopal School 

• Benjamin Franklin High 

• Caddo Parish Magnet HS 

• Caldwell Parish HS

• Cecilia HS

• David Thibodaux HS 

• Dutchtown High 

• Episcopal School of Acadiana

• Isidore Newman HS 

• JPG 

• Kaplan HS 

• Lafayette HS 

• LSMSA

• MACA 

• Parkway High 

• Peabody Magnet

• St. Thomas More Catholic 

• St. Mary's Dominican HS 

• Teurlings Catholic HS 

III. Elections  7:07

a.  Council members (expiring terms:  Kasi McCartney, Alma Nicholson, Christopher Vincent) - all re-elected

IV.  Coach of the Year 7:10

1. 3 coaches nominated 

2. Megan Brousard elected by present members 

IV. New Business 7:18

A.  Split Oral Interp into Prose and Poetry events

1. Megan Brousard - gives more flexibility to coaches and allows for more entry fees for tournaments and matches the national format.

2. Barbara - takes up classroom space 

3. Jacob - easier to recruit new members because it simplifies it 

4. Scott - tournament host can decide to host events that aren't sanctioned for LHSSL. CFL still has them combined as a major event 

5. caters to student preferences to build teams 

6. Greg- makes it to where they are more limited in the total number of events that they can add. might decrease numbers in other events 

7. Kasi - separating at tournament level would affect sanctioning for TC

8. Barbara - rooms for tc would have to increase - limits possible hosts 

9. Scott - motion to propose a committee - seconded 

   1. Scott 

   2. Megan 

   3. Jacob 

   4. Macy 

   5. 
      

B.  Judge ratio for teams traveling to State 7:35

1. Martha Claire - cost prohibitive for traveling school 

2. Greg - this year is a pilot year. might work or not 

C.  Consider going back to rotating locations for State

1. Kasi - Combined with the above topic. Rotation needs to happen to offset traveling school cost of lodging 

2. Move to executive council to confirm rules 7:45pm 

D.  TC 2026 Location

E.  Tentative Tournament Calendar 2025-26 7:47

1. September 

2. October 

   1. 25th Ascension   IE’s and Duo 

3. November 

   1. 7-8 Tuerlings 

   2. 14- 15 JPG    Debate only 

   3. 14-15 Ascension IE only 

   4. 21-22 Abbeville IE Duo Congress 

4. December 

   1. 5 -6 Southside IE and Debate 

   2. 12 - 14 Newmand All IE, Debate, Congress, Worlds 

5. January 

   1. 9-10 ULL/LSU All events 

   2. 16-17            STM              All events except worlds 

   3. 23-24            Ben Franklin   All events and Congress 

   4. 30 - 31          Dutchtown      All events and Congress 

6. February 

   1. 6-7           Sophie B Wright All events 

   2. 6-7 Parkway All Events 

   3. 14                 Cecilia         speech only 

   4. 20 -21          Kaplan           speech and congress 

   5. 27-28         New Orleans Charter 

7. March 

   1. State last weekend 

V. Announcements  8:04

-David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy

Softball game tomorrow consider parking 

please reset anything moved 

saturday after the finals for IE has happened there is a college preview and 

seminars in POI and informative 

please remind students not to text in round

Louisiana High School Speech League

Fall Coaches Meeting

Southside High School

August  24, 2024

AGENDA

I. Welcome

A.  Introduction of Executive Council Members

II. Roll call

Abbeville High School

Alexandria Senior HS 

Fisher Middle/High School 

Bolton High School

Caddo Magnet High School

Caldwell Parish High School

Carencro High SChool 

Cecilia High School

Ascension Episcopal

The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men

Episcopal School of Acadiana

Isidore Newman School

David thibodaux Stem magnet Academy

Kaplan High School

Lafayette High School

Zachary High School

Parkway High School

Peabody Magnet 

Southside High School

St. Mary's Dominican High School

St. Thomas More HS

Teurlings Catholic High School

III. Old Business

1. National Tournament Reports

   1. Lafayette CFL

      1. Report given by Scott Johnstone - 9:20am

      2. Dues have increased for national membership to $85 

      3. National tournament this year will be in Chicago memorial day weekend

      4. National tournament results report  

      5. In process of getting national tournament hosted by Lafayette

   2. New Orleans CFL - 9:30am

      1. Report given by Alma Nicholson 

      2. Meeting in september - email to come soon 

   3. NSDA - 9:32am

      1. Introduction of committee members

      2. 2024 nationals results

      3. Speech and debate week 

      4. Resources on website speechanddebate.org

      5. Springboard tournaments  

2. Committee Reports - 9:43am

   1. Inclusion of Middle Schools

      1. Report from Jacob Leger - 9:43am

      2. Suggestion of a middle school division of events at host tournaments 

         1. Oi, duo, impromptu, dec, policy and ld 

         2. Maybe saturday only - allow hs students to judge

      3. Middle school competition helps students succeed nationally

      4. Would ente

      5. r under middle school name - do not need to join lhssl

   2. Adding Informative as an Event - 9:57am

      1. Scott johnstone speaking on behalf of informative 

         1. Could be an event alternative for oratory competitors

         2. Proposal to adopt rules set by NSDA 

      2. Do not have to have a visual aid 

      3. Motion to add as a sanction event at LHSSL and state tournament 

         1. Motion seconded 

         2. Vote 18-0 passes 

   3. TC Judging Quota Committee - moved to new business area

3. Tabled Discussion - 10:05 am

   1. Change of TC qualification requirements

      1. Recap of tc qualifications post covid  - Craig Wall 

      2. Discussion in the spring was to up requirements post covid 

      3. Committee report - Massey Hammons

         1. Proposal to use the AFA qualifications system 

            1. Anytime students enter the event there is an opportunity to qualify for state if the event has 2 competitors. 

            2. Must get a 2 legs in an event  that add to a total of 5 or less to qualify  - different leg amounts based on entry size for event 

            3. Must enter in 2 tournaments min to qualify for state

      4. Could still use the free entry system from pre-covid with the new system  -  Greg Malis 

      5. Is the proposal a temporary or permanent move? - Megan Broussard 

      6. Why go to more tournaments if you already qualify? - Scott Johnstone

         1.  could use this system to do seeding for state tournament   

      7. Chris Vincent - number of tournaments offering debate make it hard for debaters to qualify under proposed system 

      8. Greg Malis - suggestion of different system for debate than for speech and leave debate to be decided later Greg Malis - allows for more total events to happen at a tournament bc now small events can still qual for state 

      9. Motion to adopt system for speech qualifications at state - Kasi McCartney 

         1. 2nd - Megan Broussard

         2. Vote passed 19-0-0

   IV. New Business

4. Proposed Changes to State Tournament - 10:22 am report Greg Malis

   1.  Replace Judge Bond with Fine System

      1. Fine wouldn't have to be for a set person. In theory schools could swap in advance 

   2.  Elimination of increased judge requirements for “local schools”

      1. Raising the cap instead of eliminating as an alt 

   3. Motion to move the judge bond and move to fine - Rex Jones

      1. 2nd

      2. 18 -0-0 passes

   4. Motion to form a committee to evaluate ratios for the state tournament with a December 1 deadline 

      1. 2nd 

      2. Vote 20-0-1 passes 

   5. Codifying current number of Preliminary rounds

      1. Recommend a motion to codify the current rounds at state as 4 rounds of debate and 3 of speech 

      2. 2nd

      3. Vote 16-0-5 passes 

   6. Volunteers for judge committee 

      1. Chris, Jacob, Rex, Martha Claire, Blake 

5. Tournament Schedule 2024-2025 - 11:00am

*Based on tournament notifications submitted online by Wednesday, Aug. 21

October

10/12 -10/14   DTA Debate only 100% online

   10/25-10/26 Teurlings Catholic All events/Novice and Advanced

November

11/2 MACA speech only no congress 

11/8-11/9 David Thibodaux Novice/Advanced Speech and Debate 

Events and middle school in every event

Congress

11/15-11/16 John Paul the Great Debate Only - combined with ESA speech

ESA speech combo with JPG and congress

11/22-11/23 Abbeville High Speech events/Congress add middle school

December

12/6 - 12/7 Southside All events and middle school congress

12/13-12/15 Isidore Newman All Speech Events

    Congress

Novice/Advanced LD

Novice/Advanced PF

        Novice/Advanced Policy

  World Schools

January

1/10 -1/11 ASH Backup

1/17-1/18 St.Thomas More All Events Congress and middle school

1/24-1/25 Ben Franklin All Events except Policy

1/24-1/25 Peabody Magnet OO, Novice Ext, Impromptu, Info

  NLD/ALD/NCX/ACX  - all events

     1/31 - 2/1     Dominican All events, january topic, congress

February

2/8 Cecilia speech only

2/21-2/22 Kaplan Congress friday and IE/duo Saturday, ms fri

    March

3/7-3/8 Lafayette CFL District Teurlings?

New Orleans CFL District

               3/21 - 3/22 NSDA District New Orleans?

     3/27-3/29     LHSSL State Championship           DTSMA or Southside 

V. Announcements

1. Reminders - 11:30am

   1. All LHSSL dues and paperwork to Kasi McCartney by September 12, 2024

   2. Congressional Debate legislation 

   3. $8 IE entry and $16 Debate Entry

   4. Blake Ziegler as Clerk of Congress  - Blakeziegler.debate@gmail.com

   5. Judge training for multicultural biases - Blake 

      1. NSDA and NFHS have online training 

      2. Tabroom setting to prevent judges for entering tournament without training

Meeting Adjourned - 11:35am

Spring Coaches Meeting Minutes - April 3, 2024 @ St. Thomas More